OUR CONTRIBUTION TO CHANGE
PART TWO
LIVELIHOODS
Overview of
part two
Food security
■
social
■
financial
■
natural
■
political
■
physical
■
human and spiritual.
… and to build on their strengths and develop
sustainable and resilient livelihoods.
Tearfund is currently framing its livelihoods work
around three main outcomes, towards which all our
projects are working:
■
increased daily incomes
■
improved skills
■
more resilient livelihoods strategies.
This is primarily achieved through vocational,
agricultural, business, management and literacy skills
training, self-help groups (SHGs) and savings groups,
and the provision or replacement of livelihood assets.
Similar to food security, our livelihoods work spans
the spectrum of preparedness, emergency response,
recovery and longer-term sustainable development.
We also recognise the role that advocacy can play
to help transform the global food system, as well
as giving individuals and communities the ability to
advocate for their own rights to sustainable food and
livelihood opportunities.
Livelihoods
WASH
What change have we seen?
Tackling HIV and
sexual violence
Evidence of impact in our livelihoods work is drawn
from five programme evaluations (Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Rwanda and two from Cambodia), one cost
benefit analysis (CBA) of self-help groups (SHGs) in
Ethiopia, and an impact assessment of Tearfund’s
Think Livelihoods! training toolkit.
Building
resilience
Photo: Ralph Hodgson/Tearfund (Nepal)
Our livelihoods work uses the Sustainable Livelihoods
Approach to support individuals and communities in
developing their assets in the following six categories:
Improved access to credit through savings
groups and SHGs
Tearfund’s livelihoods projects are contributing
towards improved access to credit for poor people,
either through savings groups, SHGs or increased
awareness of external credit options. Access to credit
increases the potential for investment in incomegenerating activities (IGAs), and increased capital
for expenditure. In Ethiopia, SHGs offer savings and
credit schemes where members save a small amount
of money each week and are then able to take out
loans which are used to pay for school fees, IGAs
and medical care. Zenaga, a member of the SHG in
Nazareth, has taken multiple loans from the group:
‘I used one of my early loans to buy and sell
charcoal, and then used the profit from that to
manufacture and sell smokeless stoves.’
Tearfund’s livelihoods work implemented through
local partners encourages communities to use local
resources efficiently and effectively.
Increased levels of income through skills training
We have also seen increased daily income levels,
particularly as a result of the vocational skills training
we support our partners to deliver. Tearfund partner
Cambodian Hope Organisation (CHO) provides
skills training courses for students; topics include
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OUR CONTRIBUTION TO CHANGE
Overview of
part two
sewing skills and motor repair work. One community
member recalls:
Food security
Livelihoods
WASH
Tackling HIV and
sexual violence
Building
resilience
‘CHO provided skills training for sewing to the
poor families in our village. After one year, we
applied for a microloan to open a business in our
village. We now have enough income to support
our living. We can save money to send home to
parents. Now our business is successful and we
can repay our loan to CHO.’
Through our operational response to the devastating
floods of 2010 in Pakistan, Tearfund established
sewing, literacy and skills training centres to equip
people with skills to make a living. The project has
been particularly beneficial for women, whose sewing
skills have enabled them to make a living for their
families while at home with the children, when
previously they would normally have worked in the
fields. Sumera Bibi is one woman who benefited from
the work, and she said:
‘The livelihood training has been really helpful.
My new stitching skills have saved me money and
with it I have been able to buy some chickens.’
Improved livelihoods through sustainable,
innovative agricultural techniques
Higher agricultural yields are also reported in the
evidence; in Rwanda, the Scottish governmentfunded ‘Ending poverty one village at a time’ project
has trained farmers in good agricultural practices,
and as a result has seen a doubling in productivity of
maize and leguminous crops.
Photo: Will Baxter/Tearfund (Cambodia)
Similarly, Tearfund partner World Concern runs
a ‘Farmer Field School’ in Myanmar which trains
farmers in sustainable agricultural techniques such
as compost-making and biological pest control. One
participant said:
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T E A RF U ND IMPACT AND LEARN ING REPORT, I NSPI R ING CHA NGE
Photo: Aubrey Graham/Tearfund (DRC)
PART TWO
‘We used Chinese fertiliser before but now my
husband can make natural fertiliser himself. We
are using the natural fertiliser in our paddy fields
and home garden which contributes to reduce
our capital cost. Compared with before, we had
to spend more money in buying things rather
than selling but since using new agricultural
techniques, we have seen an increase in yields.’
With better harvests, individuals, families and
communities are able to sell their surplus goods and
© T EA R FUND 20 15
improve their quality of life; as the Farmer School
participant goes on to say:
‘We sold the surplus produce in the market to
buy household utensils and to cover part of our
son’s education costs.’
In South Kivu, DRC, an ECHO-funded rehabilitation
project not only helped to restore the communities’
ability to plant and harvest staple crops and
vegetables, but also introduced new skills and
practices through training, which led to increased
yields. All training participants interviewed for the
South Kivu evaluation were able to describe at
least two new agricultural practices learnt, with the
majority reporting the practice of planting seeds in
rows as a new and beneficial practice; a number of
participants said they now divide their harvest into
three batches after harvesting: for consumption, for
planting and for selling in order to generate income.
OUR CONTRIBUTION TO CHANGE
Think Livelihoods! toolkit
In 2008, Tearfund began a process of developing
and field-testing a toolkit to support HIV and
livelihoods integration, called Think Livelihoods!
The toolkit is based on the Sustainable Livelihoods
Approach, using vulnerability and risk reduction, asset
mapping, value chain analysis, institutional mapping,
policy and process assessment, and livelihoods
strategy development in order to leverage people’s
livelihoods. Think Livelihoods! is a participatory tool
Inspired Individual: Mario Morales
Mario Morales is a sociologist, environmentalist
and church leader helping poor communities in
Guatemala to find innovative and sustainable
answers to substantial economic and agricultural
challenges. He has university degrees in sociology
and environmental studies, and has many years
of experience in his field. Mario was selected by
Tearfund as an Inspired Individual in 2012 and has
been supported since then.
Mario works in Escuintla, an area which produces
43 per cent of Guatemala’s GDP yet has the highest
unemployment, poverty and malnutrition rates in
the country. People here and across Guatemala
are struggling for survival. Livelihoods are being
devastated by increasingly frequent floods, and people
and local environments are put at risk by the harmful
which allows people to make decisions about their
own livelihoods activities.
Tearfund conducted a pilot of the toolkit in Ethiopia
through four partner organisations who were
implementing a self-help group (SHG) model. An
impact assessment was carried out to measure the
impact of the toolkit by comparing SHGs that had
received the Think Livelihoods! training, versus those
who had not. More than 300 surveys were conducted
for both groups, and focus group discussions were
held to ensure triangulation of the data.
Findings
The research found that there were significant
differences in economic outcomes between those
SHGs who had been trained with the Think
Livelihoods! toolkit and those who had not. The
training led to increases in added value; 14 per cent
more of the trained group were transforming their
produce, either through grinding, roasting or milling,
which has the potential to lead to greater profit when
the goods are sold. The training also led to significant
increases in the asset base of the participating SHGs;
their average asset value was four times that of the
non-trained group, an average of £1,246 compared
with £276. While there were no differences in rates
of enrolment in education between the two groups,
the trained group spent more on education, which
could indicate that while both groups prioritised
education, the trained group were able to commit
more resources to it.
practices of large corporate farms. Mario started
Comunidades Cristianas de Apoyo (CCA) [Supportive
Christian Communities] in 2002 to equip communities
to develop solutions to these relatively new problems.
Through CCA, Mario is raising awareness among
churches and local communities of the importance
of caring for the environment, as well as its value as
a resource for people living in poverty. His projects
are many and varied, including spreading knowledge
of how to prevent floods and advocating for the
rights of those suffering due to corporate farming.
One of CCA’s most recent initiatives involves
training vulnerable women to make shoes from the
fibres of discarded coconut husks. This is just one
example of how Mario is showing that by looking at
natural resources creatively, new and eco-friendly
employment opportunities can be found. Mario also
Overview of
part two
Food security
Livelihoods
WASH
Tackling HIV and
sexual violence
Building
resilience
Photo: Virginia Lattul/Tearfund (Guatemala)
Cаe
S"#
PART TWO
runs community gardens to allow farmers to share
good practices and preserve native seeds.
Tearfund’s Inspired Individuals initiative seeks to
identify, support and resource social entrepreneurs
– change agents whose unique vision, passion and
entrepreneurial skills have the potential to bring about
significant positive social change in innovative ways.
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PART TWO
Overview of
part two
Food security
Livelihoods
WASH
Tackling HIV and
sexual violence
The most significant difference noted was the
increased spending on food security and health among
the trained SHGs; the trained respondents spent
almost twice as much on healthcare as the control
group. In addition, 24 per cent fewer respondents
in the trained group suffered hungry months
when compared with the control group, indicating
improvements in food security.
These results illustrate the value added to the SHG
model by the Think Livelihoods! training. A cost
benefit analysis of SHGs in Ethiopia was undertaken
in 2013, and showed the potential of the SHG model
to increase access to credit, improve incomes and
ultimately improve livelihoods. The Think Livelihoods!
research has illustrated the value of employing
additional resources, such as specific livelihoods
training within SHGs, in order to realise long-lasting
change in community livelihoods.
Photo: Ralph Hodgson/Tearfund (Nepal)
Building
resilience
OUR CONTRIBUTION TO CHANGE
30
T E A RF U ND IMPACT AND LEARN ING REPORT, I NSPI R ING CHA NGE
K!
L"#$
Goods for distribution must be
carefully selected for the specific
context
✓
Where programmes are supporting increased
access to assets, such as seeds, tools and
livestock, for livelihood restoration and
development through distributions of
items, there is a need to ensure the items
being distributed are of suitable quality and
appropriate for the context. Participation
of beneficiaries during project design and
implementation will ensure that their opinions
and choices are reflected in the selection of
goods for distribution, and will encourage
a sense of local ownership. Tearfund is also
a strong proponent of cash and voucher
programming which empowers beneficiaries
to select the items they most need for their
household rather than having them preselected for them.
There is great value in investing in
specific livelihoods training as part of
broader initiatives such as SHGs, in order to
see greater impact on livelihoods
✓
Evidence has shown that the integration of
livelihood training into broader initiatives
© T EA R FUND 20 15
increases the impact of livelihood
interventions. Business skills, marketing and
entrepreneurship training are particularly
key to support individuals and households to
be able to manage new livelihood initiatives
successfully.
A greater focus on the areas of crop
processing and marketing would
improve the resilience of communities by
increasing their incomes and contribute to
the sustainability of the impacts achieved
through the projects
✓
Supporting households to invest in agriculture
as a livelihood opportunity has been shown
to increase household income and resilience.
This can be through training in business skills/
marketing and methods of crop processing as
well as facilitating access to inputs and credit
that farmers need to be able to invest in their
agricultural livelihoods successfully.